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A framed image and lamp rest on the floor of a hotel room in the Sheraton Hotel on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. The hotel is hosting a massive liquidation sale for the next month as the building transfers hands over to the Graduate Hotels.
David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen

Brian Hartley takes a purchased box spring down the hallway of the Sheraton Hotel on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. The hotel is hosting a massive liquidation sale for the next month as the building transfers hands over to the Graduate Hotels.
David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen

Brian Hartley, left, and Trevor Harvey fill an elevator with purchased mattresses at the Sheraton Hotel on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. The hotel is hosting a massive liquidation sale for the next month as the building transfers hands over to the Graduate Hotels.
David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen

A cluttered hotel room is pictured filled with items available for purchase inside the Sheraton Hotel on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. The hotel is hosting a massive liquidation sale for the next month as the building transfers hands over to the Graduate Hotels.
David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen

A group of people take the elevator to shop for furniture at the Sheraton Hotel on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. The hotel is hosting a massive liquidation sale for the next month as the building transfers hands over to the Graduate Hotels.
David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen

A $1,250 oil painting is pictured at the Sheraton Hotel on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. The hotel is hosting a massive liquidation sale for the next month as the building transfers hands over to the Graduate Hotels.
David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen

A lamp-filled box sits alongside framed photographs and end tables inside the Sheraton Hotel on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. The hotel is hosting a massive liquidation sale for the next month as the building transfers hands over to the Graduate Hotels.
David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen

Towels and glasses fill a hamper inside the Sheraton Hotel on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. The hotel is hosting a massive liquidation sale for the next month as the building transfers hands over to the Graduate Hotels.
David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen

Police tape blocks off the front desk of the Sheraton Hotel lobby during a liquidation sale on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. The hotel is hosting the sale for the next month as the building transfers hands over to the Graduate Hotels.
David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen

People file in to Sheraton Hotel lobby as they shop for furniture on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. The hotel is hosting a massive liquidation sale for the next month as the building transfers hands over to the Graduate Hotels.
David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen

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People file in to Sheraton Hotel lobby as they shop for furniture on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. The hotel is hosting a massive liquidation sale for the next month as the building transfers hands over to the Graduate Hotels.(Photo: David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen)Buy Photo

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The sale will operate 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday to Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday until it ends.

Beds, lamps, furniture and artwork from inside the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Iowa City will be for sale for the next five weeks as the hotel transitions to The Graduate, a boutique hotel.

Visitors to what sale managers from Dayton, Ohio-based International Content Liquidations call a "huge garage sale," will have an opportunity to wander through open floors of the 210 S. Dubuque St. hotel and, if they see something they like, take it downstairs to purchase.

"We'll be here for five weeks. It's a 234-room hotel, so there's a lot to sell," said Jim Long, a project manager with International Content Liquidation. "Guest rooms on certain floors will be open during the day. It's a neat experience."

A sale display positioned Friday in the lobby of the hotel shows, among the assorted lamps, tables and chairs, trash cans priced at $1, a $125 vanity sink, queen beds for $175 and $250 king-sized beds. Across the breezway, in the former Share restaurant, is the most expensive piece in the liquidation: a still-life oil painting valued at $1,250.

A $1,250 oil painting is pictured at the Sheraton Hotel on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. The hotel is hosting a massive liquidation sale for the next month as the building transfers hands over to the Graduate Hotels.(Photo: David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Asked what happens to items that aren't sold during the liquidation, Long said, confidently, that "everything will find a home" and that the hotel's inventory will be sold.

Some industrial items, like kitchen appliances and a beer tapper, will not be sold, Long said, because the hotel's new ownership intends to open a new restaurant.

In true garage sale style, customers will be responsible for moving items bought at the hotel. If need be, shoppers can leave their items at the hotel for about two days to prepare to pick them up. Until it ends, the sale will operate from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

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Brian Hartley takes a purchased box spring down the hallway of the Sheraton Hotel on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. The hotel is hosting a massive liquidation sale for the next month as the building transfers hands over to the Graduate Hotels.(Photo: David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Over 50 people were milling around the basement, lobby and fifth and sixth floors on Friday. Cheryl Hentrich, carrying some garbage bins as she worked her way though the fifth floor, said she had been to tag sales in homes before, but not in a hotel.

"This is an interesting way to get rid of what they need to. I've been through houses for tag sales, but it's interesting that it's a hotel," she said.

Long said on Thursday there were about 300 receipts for sales averaging about $100 apiece.

Signs posted around the hotel say there is a 6 percent sales tax and a 15 percent shoppers premium added to purchase prices.

The sale is part of a transition to The Graduate. This past June, Chicago-based AJ Capital Partners, which owns Graduate Hotels, announced its purchase and said it plans to reopen as a university-themed, boutique hotel this year.

Tim Franzen, president of Graduate Hotels, at that time declined to comment on the sale price of the hotel. According to the Iowa City Assessor's website, the hotel was sold to its former ownership, Colombus, Ohio-based investment firm Rockbridge, in March 2008 for about $7.13 million.

The office's Jan. 1 assessment of the nine-story hotel said its land value is about $3.3 million with an improvement value of about $11.8 million, bringing its total assessed value to about $15.1 million.

The Sheraton space includes 13,000 square feet of meeting and event space, a fitness center, indoor pool and the Share Wine Lounge and Small Plate Bistro, the sale announcement said. All of those features, as well all of the rooms and the lobby, will be updated as part of the renovation.

The purchase also included the 56-room Hotel Vetro, which Franzen has said will continue operating as it is.

Reach Andy Davis at 319-887-5404 or at aldavis@press-citizen.com, and follow him on Twitter as @BylineAndyDavis.